Bright Eyes

I would consider myself a pretty avid Spotify listener, but probably not for the reasons you would think. In high school I used Spotify to stream music from my favorite bands and to also create kick-ass playlists for friends so they’d think I have good music taste. I pretty much stopped all of that when I got to college, though.

Now, I solely use my Spotify to listen to new, and relatively shitty, music that the site’s algorithm predicts that I’ll enjoy. Most of the time, my Discover Weekly consists of okay music that I’ll listen to once and then forget about. But every once in a while, the algorithm rewards me with a brand new song and a new favorite band. I guess that’s the whole purpose of listening to new music, after all. In order to develop a good taste, you have to start by finding the diamond song in the rough, rough patch of shitty indie-rock music.

That being said, this week’s playlist was just okay. No diamond song, but there were definitely some interesting tracks that are worth a listen.

This song kicks off with the standard relaxed, indie vibe of most Discover Weekly songs. Kurt Travis sings of his desperation to keep his lover from changing, which is once again quite typical of all relatively mediocre indie. This song has a little diamond feature, though, which is Travis’ voice. He has quite the range, which almost seems to mimic the desperation he sings of throughout the song’s duration.

When this song first began playing, I immediately thought it was “Take me to Church” by Hozier (http://hozier.com/). The intros of the two songs are very similar if not the exact same, which honestly, I love. Throughout, the song features beautiful, soul-filled acoustics and additionally, like all good kind-of-religious songs, incorporates harmonies from an excellent gospel choir.

Okay, I absolutely love Bright Eyes’ music, like, who doesn’t? But nothing new of theirs made me feel the way I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning did. Honestly I don’t think a song could get better than “First Day of My Life.” This song is no exception. I think I’m just particularly used to “old” Bright Eyes. I also think that I’m not open to a weird, synth-heavy, rock version of the acoustic band I know and love.

This band reminds me of an indie combination of Catfish and the Bottlemen and Andrew Bird. I love the playful feel of the instrumentals combined with the singer’s low-pitched voice. The lyrics are about a girl that probably all of us know. A girl with “a keen sense of style … [who] loves at best.” This track was by-far my favorite off the playlist. A good addition to any road trip playlist of yours.

No playlist is complete without a song that makes you want to cry; this is that song. If you’re not into sad songs about suicidal thoughts, skip this one. If you are, this is as good as it’s going to get. It’s your basic sad, acoustic folk song that speaks straight to the heart when it’s “one of those days.”

I couldn’t not include a song about a lobster on blog post titled “Discover the Lobster.” This song is actually pretty sad. It’s about a lobster stuck in a restaurant’s lobster tank who misses its family in the ocean. I’d be pretty emo, too, if I was about to get eaten.

I particularly enjoyed the sound of this one. The guitar was almost hypnotic to me; while listening I felt like I was floating away into nothingness. The lyrics are particularly beautiful and certainly resonate with people who are existentially confused (like me).

The second I heard the iconic synth intro of this song, I was blasted straight back to my sophomore year of high school when I first stopped listening to cookie-cutter pop radio and started listening to more “alternative” music. This is the perfect jam to add to any of your favorite indie-rock playlists. Also, be sure to learn the lyrics, because if you’re anything like me, you’ll be screaming “Ya know you’re on my mind!” right along with them. Every. Damn. Time.